Marcus Aemilius Chrysanthus
Freedman of the two Marcus and 'magister of the first year'.
Biography
of Marcus Aemilius Chrysanthus
TNMP 95
The freedman Marcus Aemilius Chrysanthus is known from three inscriptions engraved on small marble altars unearthed in the 16th century in Rome, not far from Santa Maria in Monticelli. In these three dedications, he is described as magister of the first year, a title that seems to designate him as the trainer of new entrants to the Mithraic community (such as the slaves Fructus and his son Myro?), whose instruction he would have been responsible for for a year, with the help of assistants, one of whom bears the same praenomen and the same gentilice as he.
—Les cultes de Mithra dans l'Empire Romain (2021)
Mentions
Altar of Aemilius Chrysanthus to the Invincible Sol
TNMM 479
Aemilius Chrysanthus shares the expenses of this monument with a decurio named Limbricius Polides.
Altars found near Santa Maria in Monticelli
TNMM 463
These three small marble altars mention the 'magister of the first year' Marcus Aemilius Chrysanthus and other members of the same community.
Orienti / Fructus Ponti (servus) / cum Myrone [f(ilio)] / sub M. Aemilio / Chrysantho / mag(istro) anni primi.
Soli / invicto / M. Aemilius / M(arcorum duorum) l(ibertus) Chrysanthus / mag(ister) anni primi et / M. Limbricius Polides / dec(urio) et sodalicio eius / d(e) (suo) d(onum) d(ederunt).
In the East, Fructus, slave of Pontus, with [his] son Myro, under the orders of Marcus Aemilius Chrysanthus, master (magister) of the first year.
To Sol invincible, Marcus Aemilius Chrysanthus, freedman of the two Marcus, master of the first year and Marcus Limbricius Polides, decurion and member of his college, at their own expense, offered a gift.